What begins here is a summarized history of events from the 21st Century to the current era in the 6th Millennium. As Humanity burst from it's cradle amid danger of extinction to strike out among the stars in a diaspora of adventure and progress. But as always Humans are fickle, greedy, violent beings that soon began to fill their newfound interstellar dominions with war, intrigue, genocide, and all manner of internecine craft Humanity has honed to well.
Era of Old Earth
BC-2200AD
Spanning from Pre-History to the 22nd Century AD the Era of Old Earth was a time when humanity was confined to the Sol System and the only habitable planet of Earth. By the Mid-21st Century Earth was plagued with resource wars, famine, and all manner of conflict. It was this desperation that launched the first automated mining stations and research facilities on The Moon, Mars, and the Asteroid belt. Progressing to permanent habitats on the Moon and Mars by 2080. By 2100 Humanity was choking Earth as overpopulation reached critical levels and the first generation ship left Earth for the Alpha Centauri system. Many more would follow for other neighboring stars. But by 2175 Humanity had discovered a very primitive form of FTL using an Alcubierre drive. Allowing ships to reach systems up to 5 Light years away in a single calculated jump. Some of these new ships arrived in systems before the surviving generation ships arrived and the local group of stars was colonized.

The United Federation Era
2200AD-2347AD)
The limits of Human FTL and navigation limited Humanity to the local bubble of stellar systems. However even then great leaps in colonization where forming. Along with this came the first colonial wars as more developed worlds began to show signs of increased planetary consciousness to themselves as separate from Earth. Eventually culminating into the damaging Great Colonial Schism which was a series of wars from 2314-2347AD. Bringing an end to the United Federation and formally dissolving the United Nations and their parliamentary system. In exchange establishing the United Earth Directorate. A corporate conglomerate.

The Corporate Era
2347AD-2402AD
The rise of megacorporations taking control of entire worlds replaced the former nations of Earth as the leaders of humanity. Great economic gains where made at the cost of social and civil liberties. But the corporations ruled with an iron fist as they are what funded the Earth military which won the Great Colonial Schism. It was not until the Martian Revolt of 2399 and the subsequent struggle that the corporations lost political and military power. Being replaced by the Terran Republic which returned to the ideals of democracy. Primitive Terraforming technology was introduced during this time to remake Mars and many other worlds into fully hospitable planets.

Terran Republic.
2402AD-2463AD
The Terran Republic saw a restoration of the democratic ideals of the of democracy. However this too ended when a coup led by the victorious Admiral Julian Apostaric, victor of the Frontier Wars against the rebellious human settles of the Sirius Star system during the Sirian Insurgency. Founding the short lived Terran Hegemony that only lasted till 2477 with the murder of Apostaric and his entire family by Wilhelm von Ravenstar. Founding the Terran Empire with a constitution granting social and economic freedoms along with technological advances with the introduction of the Warp Engine.

Diaspora and Empire
2477AD-2955
The Diaspora and Empire go hand in hand as the Imperial fronted Warp Engine allowed humans to make calculated jumps that where cost effective at distances of up to 15 light years before needing refueling. Along with increased navigation computers allowed humanity to colonize much of the Orion Arm. The Ravenstar monarchs, good or bad, reigned over a momentous time in human history. The drawback was that the Empire was being outpaced by the rate of exploration and colonization with hundreds of worlds settled. The introduction of more advanced terraforming techniques hastened the amount of time it took to transform a world and also make it more Earthlike than ever before. It was in the beginning of this era that the Original Twenty, referencing the original Twenty worlds that managed to be founded without Imperial control took place. Forming nascent states out of the reach of the Empire. Ultimately this led to the Great War when the Empire learned and sought to conquer the Original Twenty. The result was the nuclear bombardment of Earth and the destruction of seven of the Original Twenty along with widespread damage to the Empire. Fragmenting humanity and Earth began to be lost to obscurity.

Warring Systems Era
2955AD-3600AD
The dozens of warring systems of various governments and ideologies can best be analyzed as a stellar dark age for humanity. Much knowledge was lost during this lengthy period as the old Terran Empire fragmented and the Thirteen Spacer Colonies, the surviving worlds of the Original Twenty, became the dominant bastions of humanity during Imperial times. Ironically becoming the preservers of the technology and information lost as the Empire fell. It was these fierce competitions over territory and resources that Humanity began to leave the Orion Arm. Colonizing neighboring arms after the invention of the HyperWarp Drive and it's slow spread to the desperate worlds of mankind. Allowing ships to make jumps up to 100 light years in length.

Spacer Era & Galactic Empires
3600AD-Current Year of 5876AD

By 3600AD many of the warring states in the Orion Arm had been absorbed by the Star Kingdom of Orion (British Empire in space) centered on Procyon Primaris. The other three major Galactic dominions arising from the newly colonized arms of the Galaxy being the Sagittarius Star Empire (modeled on the German Empire/Prussia), Cygnus Interstellar Hegemony (Asian themed), and the Perseus United Systems (Western Democracy themed). Further advances like the Positron Matrix to create true artificial intelligences, various FTL drives allowing anything from a few dozen light years to thousands in a matter of hours, and all manner of biological enhancements.